Blunder #9: Bad plug-ins/themes

As I write this, there are over 11,500 plug-ins available for WordPress. Yikes!

Many people read a recommendation about a certain plug-in and they immediately
download it and install it on their blog. Have you been guilty of this too? As an
Internet Marketer or Search Engine Marketer, out of 11,500 plug-ins there are only about 14 “must have” plug-ins that you really need, such as:

Platinum SEO
Broken Link Checker
CB Ping Optimizer
Dagon Sitemap Generator
Google XML Sitemaps
No-follow Links
Simple Tags
....... etc

Note: You might wonder why I haven’t included All In One SEO on the above list of
plug-ins. Yes, it is extremely popular. But, it does not support auto-permalink redirects as well as Platinum SEO.

Also, Platinum SEO allows you to make specific posts no-follow and no index. That’s important to better optimize your blog.

Please bear in mind... some plug-ins don’t play well with each other. Also, certain plug-ins, if not configured correctly, can actually hurt your search engine rankings. For example, if you use the default settings for several plug-ins (such as
Simple Tags), they won’t work very well.

This same rule applies to themes. Yes, there are a ton of good free WP themes out
there. However, most themes are designed for looks (by Graphic Designers), not for search engine optimization (by SEO experts). Once again, using the wrong theme can sabotage your blog and not give you the results you want.

I’d rather have a decent looking blog that is well optimized to grab maximum traffic and top Google rankings, rather than a fantastic looking blog that gets 2 visitors a day.

Wouldn’t you?

Take Away: Don’t just blindly install WordPress plug-ins or use a theme because it looks good. Always ask yourself: Am I 100% sure that this will help better optimize my blog to get me more traffic and higher search engine rankings? If not, don’t install it, don’t use it -- period.